Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A lot of you have probably heard by now about the author who went ballistic on a reviewer who posted a mixed review on their blog. I'm not going to name the author, or the reviewer, or the blog - it isn't really that important, and I don't want any flaming in here. The point of this post isn't to ridicule, or make the author feel worse than she probably already does now that she's had a couple of days to look back at her very bad, very public behavior.

I just want to reiterate this point: we are professionals. We might sleep in, gorge ourselves on chocolate and coffee, refuse to change our socks, and bathe sporadically, but when it comes down to dealing with other writers, editors, agents, and anyone else in the publishing or book business, we are professionals, and we have to act like it.

Please, please, please, for the sake of your future in this or any other industry (and this goes for actors too - and YOU KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT): don't respond unkindly when you see someone saying something about your work that you don't like. Don't insult people. Don't argue with people over whether your work has merit. Just don't do it. If you can't be professional and polite, then be invisible and silent. Lock yourself in your bedroom or call your best friend and rant away. Scream at your mirror till your throat is sore, write in your private journal until your pen runs out of ink and your anger runs out of steam, and then move on to the next book or the next movie or the next whatever and put the bad review behind you. Instead of trying to get even or convince them they're wrong, spend that energy making your next project ten times better than the last one.

But whatever you do, don't get into a public confrontation. It will only do you harm.

7 comments:

Creative types tend to be kind of sensitive, which can actually be helpful to their writing/painting/whatever, but there has to be a balance. I did read the blog review, and the many, many comments...yikes. If it did anything positive, it served as a warning example for those of us who may have to face (constructive) criticism from time to time.

I've read the blog and the rant and at first I fully supported the reviewer. That being said, I hope the writer is all right. I would hate to find out her father had just died or she found out she had cancer and just ranted because of stress. I don't excuse her behavior but I don't like to see anyone get hurt. Great post!

Clarissa, yes: this is why I chose not to name the author or link to the review and comments. This woman could have a mental disorder, a dependency, a social disorder... I didn't want this post to be about embarrassing anybody. But at the same time, none of the above things would excuse her behavior. If you can't be professional in public, then you have to learn to be quiet, and take your anger and frustration to a more appropriate, private place to vent. Even people with mental or social disorders, or just a lot of stress in their life, can learn that skill!

I just heard about this yesterday, but not the author or book, so I don't know exactly what went down.

But I do know when I've been upset about something, a day or two perspective is vital. Few things are still as important after that.

Last year, I read a lukewarm review. The author commented professionally, asking questions about why the blogger gave up on the book. Commenters and the blog author were impressed by the comment. The blog author promised to give the book another chance and several commenters said they'd buy the book. Kindness goes a long way.

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